The Economic View From Around Town

July 28, 1986|By Dick Marlowe of the Sentinel Staff

With recession talk heating up, the time seems right to take a look at the Central Florida economy. Rather than have an economist tell us about how it is and how it is going to be, I have put the question to a few people around town. Here is what they had to say when asked, ''How's business?''

Walt N. Meloon, president of Correct Craft. Inc.: ''Right now, we are very pleased. Sales are up over last year and we are heading for a record year in boat sales. The devalued dollar overseas has helped us because our export business picks up.''

Fred Frailey, partner in Frailey & Wilson Inc. advertising: ''Remember the old Ed Sullivan Show where the guy kept those plates spinning with a stick. For the past five years it has been like that for us -- a super five- year growth period. This year, it has been just kind of flat, and that is generally what I am hearing echoed among my business friends . . . .''

Roland Reems, Moran Printing Co.: ''In the last two months, our business has never been better. This will be our best year in the last eight years for sales. I will say, however, that business is very competitive. Call a different printer and you might get a very different answer.''

Ken Leland, Leland's Office World:

''Not good. For some reason, business has just quit. Whether overbuilding has caught up with us, I don't know. . . . It is the worst I have seen since the 1972 recession. My business is off 30 percent for May, June and July. Things seem to be pretty much the same with other office furniture dealers.'' Bob Mervine, spokesman, Walt Disney World: ''We are having a great year. Business is up. The parks are having good attendance, our hotel business is excellent and -- as indicated in our quarterly reports -- our company attributes it to great business in the parks.''

Thomas Young, president, Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace: ''Our employees have done an outstanding job over the last several years in making it possible for us to greatly expand our business base and to successfully transition into major production programs. In just the last two years, for example, we've seen our orders increase by 100 percent from $900 million to $1.8 billion. We have well-positioned ourselves for the future, by concentrating our resources in such promising technology areas as electro- optics, milimeter wave radar, and integrated circuitry. This will allow us to be highly competitive in those business areas that are most likely to experience strong growth in the years ahead.''

Jack Ledoux, president, Executive Travel: ''The past year generally has been -- percentagewise -- the worst we have had. But in the past two months, business has picked up dramatically because of the stabilizing of international conditions. Terrorism, strikes and fare wars had an adverse effect on the travel industry. We work on commission and have to sell a lot more to make us as much as we used to make.''

Bill Colburn, Cypress Creek Nursery: ''Our business is not as good this year as it was last year, but business was up significantly last year. Looking back over the past five years, our sales are about what they would have been without the increase in sales last year as a result of the freezes.''

Bob Reed, Reed Nissan/Datsun: ''Just about the same as last year. Sales probably would be up if Nissan had the same kinds of sales incentives as other manufacturers. When the year is over, it will be just about the same as 1985.''

Ed Freitag, United Financial of America Inc., mortgage brokers: ''Business is very active, but the closing of mortgage loans is not going as easily, simply and as quickly as they have in previous years. Lenders are ultra-cautious with the quality of loans due to the overbuilding that is taking place in the Central Florida market.''

Harris Rosen, hotel owner: ''Fantastic. This is a once-in-a-lifetime set of circumstances. Gasoline prices are down, and there are ample supplies. The dollar is down and people are coming over in droves. The weather has been perfect. We have plenty of rooms, room rates are reasonable and the perception is that Orlando is offering a tremendous value.''

Art Bowser, retiree: ''I am in better shape financially than I have ever been. When the interest on government and municipal bonds got high, I sold common stocks and started buying high-interest bonds. At my age, 87, I thought it was time to start switching from speculative to income investments.''